Tom Cruise makes about one movie per year. Since his last three movies have been the critically praised but dumbed-down \Minority Report,"" the pretentious ""Vanilla Sky"" and ""Mission: Impossible II,"" the last three years have not been great for him. Now, with ""The Last Samurai,"" Cruise aims to turn things around in epic style. The result is imperfect, but still worthwhile.
""The Last Samurai"" centers around Nathan Algren (Cruise), an alcoholic Civil War veteran, who accepts a job training the Japanese army in modern military tactics. Shortly into his tenure there, he must fight the samurai rebel leader Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe). After being captured in battle, Algren learns the customs of the samurai as they face destruction from the emperor.
On one hand, the movie fails to live up to its grand ambitions, with dull moments, lackluster emotional content, and a star that is poorly suited to his role. On the other hand, it features incredible battle scenes, a star that can make any role passable, and a recurring elegance that keeps it from falling victim to its own schmaltziness.
Director Edward Zwick (""Glory"") deserves the bulk of both the criticism and praise. The movie is oddly paced. It is over-scored and several peripheral actors are badly cast, like Timothy Spall (""Vanilla Sky""). Along with cinematographer John Toll (""Braveheart""), Zwick also crafts many contrived, postcard-looking visuals. But at the same time, he coaxes a competent performance out of Cruise and works wonderfully with Watanabe, who lends phenomenal presence to each of his scenes.
Zwick also deserves enthusiastic praise for the battle scenes. With each passing fight, the scenes become more spellbinding. The battles are so intoxicatingly intense that many audience members will likely feel that they themselves are in danger, just from sitting in the theater.
The real mixed blessing is for Cruise. ""Samurai"" feels like an attempt at Oscar recognition, but it does not allow us to see Cruise at his best. Cruise, like Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart, is at his best when featured in stories that allow him to revel in the greatness of his standard onscreen persona, like in ""Jerry Maguire."" Cruise has the chops to handle ""Samurai,"" but it never gives him a chance to shine.
In the end, ""The Last Samurai"" is an epic melodrama with good intentions that fails to be great, but rarely alienates its audience. While not a worthy Oscar candidate, the movie is better than most war-themed melodramas. It compares best to something like ""Gangs of New York"": fundamentally flawed, but occasionally brilliant and altogether worthwhile.
